Contemporary

When we think of earth as a construction material, we often picture thick, load-bearing walls with small openings. This architectural form is shaped mainly by the material’s physical properties and the traditional building techniques developed to create habitable spaces that met basic needs—shelter and some thermal comfort.

What may seem at first glance like a conventional facade, with a masonry outer layer resting on the slab, is nothing like reality! Hidden tension rods within the bricks and post-compression allow the heavy panel to remain suspended and work in tension.

Equally interesting is the opening, where the ceramic lattice covers the opaque hinged panel, acting as a security barrier rather than a solar filter.

In line with the previous post (183), referring to this “new” way of conceiving architecture, we want to share this magnificent example of reusing material with you.

Again, wall structures and materials of mineral origin are imposed.

We want to thank this young team of architects for their generosity in sharing this really interesting and innovative project with us.

This case would be quite an ordinary rain screen façade with a lightweight steel frame main wall and a cladding, if it were not for the reflective membrane. This layer achieves air-tightness all around the building and moisture protection of the main wall, allowing the exterior board not to be a cement board, as is the standardised Knauf system.

It's difficult not to be moved by the interior atmosphere created by the prefabricated blocks used in the construction of rice silos. Those spaces were not originally designed to be occupied, but we can now enjoy them thanks to their rehabilitation.

This simple block piece, with its sloping planes and small ventilation openings that also permit light ingress, offers a wealth of lights and shadows, enhanced by the curved shape of the silo itself. The light is soft and uniform.

Recycling is a must. When recycling old brick walls, we tend to think that the recyclable element is the brick; we need to separate it from the rest of the elements and clean the mortar. It is cleverer to understand that a wall is much more than a brick, and thus, we can recycle it as panels! We reuse the small element, that is, the brick, and we benefit from the work of the craftsman of the time when the original building was erected. 

The precast concrete pieces, whether structural or not, shape the building's identity—from the large lattice panels framing the chamfer to the simple exterior line of concrete pillars.

This concrete skeleton defines bioclimatic spaces, making this seemingly rigid architecture feel comfortable and "soft".

Regarding the facade solution, the most relevant are the balconies acting as bioclimatic buffers.